Venting!
A Honda dealership in Alabama won't sell (a used Camaro) outside of AL and the 4 states it borders. So in NC I'm out of luck...
A Kia dealer in FL has $1095 dealer fee and a $2495 mandatory "protection package" on their cars, new and used. $3600 in Fees! The comments in reviews are great, as it was taken over by a conglomerate, but used to be named "Friendly", so the jokes write themselves.
Many, many years ago, I was having diner with the CFO of a car brand that many of us know. I might have had a glass or two of wine or something.
You can make great cars, I told him, but the buying process is rarely if ever enjoyable.
I recently walked out of a dealer after being confronted with $3500 in BS mandatory fees. I felt bad for the salesman as he seemed embarrassed having to present them.
A local dealer had a mandatory extended warranty on the pricing sheet. The salesperson explained they wouldn't sell the car without it.
We bought a used car from a private seller the next week.
I've walked out on deals when presented with fees like that. It got to the point when I found the car for my son an hour away, I called to ask if they were going to try to add any bullE36 M3 fees in the paperwork? The answer was, "Nope." I told them I would be there in an hour and I bought the car at the advertised price. (which was a great deal)
We - my FIL and I - walked out of a dealer after they wouldn't come down $500 on a car that had sat on the lot for 7 months.
We probably would have paid the $500 if the dealership experience wasn't such a caricature of itself, complete with the "let me go back and check with my manager" shtick.
NC240Zed said:Venting!
A Kia dealer in FL has $1095 dealer fee
Illinois has a $358 max on the dealer fee. Florida has no limit I believe. There's a Chevrolet dealer near Miami that has great prices but they gouge you in the dealer fee. (DOC fee is it?)
That stuff will go away when the economy slows. It's dead up here now, my son just bought from a GM dealer, and didn't pay any of that BS. They tried the warranty nonsense, but took it off instantly when he said no, then took another $1200 the price on their own to make the deal
Once again, I'm so thankful for the S-plan deal Mazda offers...
The dealer I ordered and purchased my Maverick from has a $1,295 dealer fee and a $107 doc fee.
But I used the X-Plan which limits the dealer to charging a max of $100 in fees.
A few vehicles before the Maverick, I purchased a used Ram 1500 from a Chevy dealer that had a $900 dealer fee. On a 4 year old truck. The dealer never disclosed it but my credit union saw it on the purchase agreement and asked about it. The salesman cried that they needed to charge that to cover their operating costs. GTFO here. It's 100% profit. I wanted to walk but it was the exact truck I had been looking for.
This was all in Florida, which does not cap the dealer fees.
Just remember that the NADA stated that dealers are there to protect to consumer.
Boy, this is all great to hear. I'm considering buying a new Lexus before long and can't imagine how much fun that will be.
Buying used on FB or CL suddenly looks more user friendly.
In reply to NC240Zed :
My nephew just went through this. He moved from CA to TX for a job. His wanted to buy a lightly used truck, and figured better to buy after moving to TX to avoid CA taxes and registration. He was keeping an eye on prices online, and there was no shortage of trucks in his budget. When he when to buy, he found all of the dealers added thousands to their online prices in the form of fee's, add-on's, and warrantees. Thankfully my brother went with him and they got them to drop all of extra crap, but it took a lot of time and effort.
I've had to travel a bit for all of my best buying experiences. I'd love to buy local, but they have always added dealer markups and dealer installed "upgrades" like "$2000 wheel packages. Same story every time. I'd call around until I found a dealer willing to sell me the car I wanted at the price I wanted. Then I'd just drive down and buy it, no BS. They always had the car ready, and didn't waste any time negotiating. I think the overall process was actually faster despite driving 3-4 hours round trip. And every time, AFTER I bought the car I wanted, the local dealer would call back, a week or so later, "Do you still want that car you were looking at? We are ready to give you your price now."
As a way to make $$ they go ahead and add all the garbage packages that the finance dept used to push. The "protection package" is a total crime. They sell it like its some amazing thing, its literally just armor all, scotch guard and a wax job. I used to detail at a ford dealership and was the one who "applied" the super fancy protection package for the fools who got suckered into it. Now they just include it automatically. .
It's just a way to increase prices without increasing prices. See also airlines and hotels and heck, the food truck I visited earlier today that has a 18% mandatory tip added to the bill so they can "give their staff a living wage". It's especially useful for dealerships because they can advertise the lower prices on their commodity items and since they always obsfuscate the actual price in as complicated a negotiation as possible, people don't even notice.
Toyota wanted around $2k extra if we were going to pay cash cause it was money they would lose if they sold the car to someone who was not financing. WTF? As it came up after waiting 8 months for a Corolla to materialize, it was not so funny. Did not pay. Was due to replace the 2013 FRS 2 years ago, but Im retired, the car has low miles and nothing wrong with it so berkeley it, not getting another new car while this nonsense is afoot.
Honda dealer that sold us our Expedition last fall added the protection package after we declined it. They did it by dropping the selling price to keep us at the agreed price after including it, so we didn't pay extra for it.
We also turned down the extended warranty, so no add ons. Then, without us asking, they dropped the total by another thousand as we're wrapping up the deal.
I'm not sure what that was about, but I'm not complaining. Second car we've bought there. We did fine on the trade in also.
In reply to Boost_Crazy :
I traveled when I bought my Jeep a few years ago. Every dealer around me had "market adjustments" tacked on. Dealer in Virginia I bought from was a volume dealer and I got exactly what I wanted for invoice. A day's drive to save thousands of dollars became a no brainer.
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:Honda dealer that sold us our Expedition last fall added the protection package after we declined it. They did it by dropping the selling price to keep us at the agreed price after including it, so we didn't pay extra for it.
We also turned down the extended warranty, so no add ons. Then, without us asking, they dropped the total by another thousand as we're wrapping up the deal.
I'm not sure what that was about, but I'm not complaining. Second car we've bought there. We did fine on the trade in also.
The F&I guy, (finance and insurance) is the second office that you usually enter after you agree to buy. This guy's job is to upsell you on financing and "packages". He then gets commissioned on selling you those items. He "included" the protection and extended warranty to the sale to benefit himself. He then got personally commissioned for the sale of those items. Or, at least he met his "sales goal" of being expected to add those items onto a certain percentage of all completed sales.
John Welsh said:Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:Honda dealer that sold us our Expedition last fall added the protection package after we declined it. They did it by dropping the selling price to keep us at the agreed price after including it, so we didn't pay extra for it.
We also turned down the extended warranty, so no add ons. Then, without us asking, they dropped the total by another thousand as we're wrapping up the deal.
I'm not sure what that was about, but I'm not complaining. Second car we've bought there. We did fine on the trade in also.
The F&I guy, (finance and insurance) is the second office that you usually enter after you agree to buy. This guy's job is to upsell you on financing and "packages". He then gets commissioned on selling you those items. He "included" the protection and extended warranty to the sale to benefit himself. He then got personally commissioned for the sale of those items. Or, at least he met his "sales goal" of being expected to add those items onto a certain percentage of all completed sales.
That was my assumption, that he was moving the numbers around to get credit for the sale of the add on.
I'm in the middle of a different kind of dealer fun...
Carfax shows a new title issued in Florida after the MD title. Vehicle bought in MAY, MD title issued in May. Received MD tag and title in July, Florida title issued in July...
All I have for the Florida title is a title number, don't even know if it's in my name.
At this point, the next plan I have is going to yell at the general manager in person. After they fix it (if they fix it), probably going to do some accurate online reviews.
Anyone have a better idea?
I hate to say lawyer up but you might need one in FL. Contact Florida DMV and ask about the title. owner and date of creation should be clues.
In reply to porschenut :
Sounds like a data entry error, run amok.
Data entry error is how I ended up with two social security numbers.
In reply to Apexcarver :
Start with this to see what the state knows about the title:
http://services.flhsmv.gov/mvcheckweb/
In reply to jgrewe :
Wow I never knew that was available. Thanks! Adding to my bookmarks.
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